The Hindu : Front Page : Separate pay panel for armed forces

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Friday, Jan 02, 2009
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Separate pay panel for armed forces

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: In a move to redress the grievances of armed forces personnel over anomalies in pay structures, the government decided to place officers in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and their equivalents in the other two services on a higher pay band and constitute a separate pay commission.

The government also decided to restore a 70 per cent pension weightage for soldiers on retirement. It, however, made no commitment on the fourth aspect of placing Lieutenant Generals in Higher Administrative Grade Plus pay scales and bringing the Grade Pay of officers from Captain to Brigadier on a par with their civilian counterparts.

These decisions were communicated by the Prime Minister’s Office to the Defence Ministry. The PMO considered the recommendations of the Group of Ministers headed by Pranab Mukherjee.

The government decided that Lieutenant Colonels in the Army and their equivalents in the Navy and the Air Force will now be placed in Pay Band-4 under the Sixth Pay Commission, whose report was implemented last September. The pay band placement of Rs. 8,000 grade pay is for Lieutenant Colonels who perform a combat role or are ready for combat. Officers on deputation to other services can draw benefit under Pay Band-4 status only when they come back to their parent service.

The 70 per cent weightage for pension would continue till the government implements the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission which allows retired personnel of the armed forces lateral entry into paramilitary and Central police forces.

The government agreed to set up a high power committee for reviewing the command and control functions and status of the armed forces in comparison with their counterparts in civil and paramilitary services.

The move to create a separate armed forces pay commission will essentially unhinge it from the civilian Central pay commission. The services chiefs earlier petitioned the government to have a representation from the ranks in the Sixth Pay Commission since service personnel comprised one third of the potential beneficiaries.

Even the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence had recommended that a member from the defence forces be nominated to the Sixth Pay Commission.

The commission report led to resentment in the defence forces and the three services chiefs raised the matter with the Prime Minister, who then set up the committee comprising Mr. Mukherjee, A.K. Antony and P. Chidambaram.

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